(A Committee of Correspondence)

04 February 2013

What will the anti-gun lobby get?

President Obama has released photographs of his awkward effort to deal with a fifty year old government owned shotgun from the Eisenhower era at Camp David. They evidently found this antique in a locker up there. Wilmington Joe Biden, the VP, went down to Richmond, Virginia last week to lobby for stricter federal gun control law. The flunky corporate media have not broadcast the result of that expedition, so, it is likely that it was a flop.

People like Axelrod are now admitting that the reason for a high homicide rate in Chicago is that there are 150,000 "youth" gang members in the city. New York City has 15,000 gang members and a much lower homicide rate.

The Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colorado and Newtown killers were madmen who were not identified or reported by the mental health community to the background check network. In the case of the Newtown killer, he, evidently, had not been treated at all.

These facts and the lack of leverage in Congress for strict federal gun control are slowly soaking into the minds of those who want more gun law.

What is actually going to happen is that there may be legislation to:

- Require background checks for all private gun sales in the US. This is the so called "gun show loophole." This change in law would require all those selling firearms at a show be registered with the show, i.e., have a booth. This will keep people from selling guns in the parking lot without a federal firearms sales license. On-line background checks are now possible from the show by licensed dealers registered for the show and are made at shows in Virginia. The new law will contain an exception for "family" transfers as does the NY State law. If there is not such an exception the bill will not pass. The bill will contain a requirement for the destruction of the record of the check for those who "pass" the check. Will the ATF actually destroy such records? That is an open question.

- There may be a ban on magazines with a large capacity. This will be meaningless. There are millions of such magazines now in private hands.

What is not going to happen?

- There will not be federal law requiring mental health agencies, mental health providers, counselors, schools and the like to provide inputs to the background check network. That will not happen because many of the same people who want stronger gun law do not want their children, friends or relatives to have a searchable federal record that suggests mental illness, even if government itself advises such treatment. pl

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What will the anti-gun lobby get?

President Obama has released photographs of his awkward effort to deal with a fifty year old government owned shotgun from the Eisenhower era at Camp David. They evidently found this antique in a locker up there. Wilmington Joe Biden, the VP, went down to Richmond, Virginia last week to lobby for stricter federal gun control law. The flunky corporate media have not broadcast the result of that expedition, so, it is likely that it was a flop.

People like Axelrod are now admitting that the reason for a high homicide rate in Chicago is that there are 150,000 "youth" gang members in the city. New York City has 15,000 gang members and a much lower homicide rate.

The Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colorado and Newtown killers were madmen who were not identified or reported by the mental health community to the background check network. In the case of the Newtown killer, he, evidently, had not been treated at all.

These facts and the lack of leverage in Congress for strict federal gun control are slowly soaking into the minds of those who want more gun law.

What is actually going to happen is that there may be legislation to:

- Require background checks for all private gun sales in the US. This is the so called "gun show loophole." This change in law would require all those selling firearms at a show be registered with the show, i.e., have a booth. This will keep people from selling guns in the parking lot without a federal firearms sales license. On-line background checks are now possible from the show by licensed dealers registered for the show and are made at shows in Virginia. The new law will contain an exception for "family" transfers as does the NY State law. If there is not such an exception the bill will not pass. The bill will contain a requirement for the destruction of the record of the check for those who "pass" the check. Will the ATF actually destroy such records? That is an open question.

- There may be a ban on magazines with a large capacity. This will be meaningless. There are millions of such magazines now in private hands.

What is not going to happen?

- There will not be federal law requiring mental health agencies, mental health providers, counselors, schools and the like to provide inputs to the background check network. That will not happen because many of the same people who want stronger gun law do not want their children, friends or relatives to have a searchable federal record that suggests mental illness, even if government itself advises such treatment. pl